The director of the Uffizi Gallery, the great museum in Florence, asked Germany on Tuesday for the return of a painting by the 18th century Dutch painter Jan van Huysum, stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War.
"Stolen by Nazi soldiers". "A call to Germany for 2019: we hope that this year it will finally be possible to return to the Uffizi Gallery the famous flower vase of the Dutch painter Jan van Huysum stolen by the Nazi soldiers", writes Eike Schmidt , the director of the museum, himself of German nationality. He states that the painting is "currently held by a German family who, after all this time, has not yet returned to the museum, despite many requests from the Italian state".
A work found in 1991. It is an oil on canvas of 47x35 cm signed Jan van Huysum (1682-1749), a renowned painter specializing in still lifes, and belonging since 1824 to the collections of the Pitti Palace, the other great Florentine museum. Seized by the Germans during the war, she was transferred to Germany where her track was long lost, before being found in 1991 after German reunification, explains Eike Schmidt. "Because of this affair that damages the heritage of the Uffizi, the wounds of the Second World War and Nazi terror are not healed," he adds.
An exposed black and white reproduction. The art historian also believes that "Germany should abolish the prescription for works stolen during the conflict and ensure that they can return to their rightful owners". In anticipation of the return of the original to Florence, a black and white reproduction of Van Huysum's Flower Vase has been on display since Tuesday at the Pitti Palace. It bears the mention "Stolen" (in Italian, English and German) and a short explanatory legend that reminds visitors that "the work was stolen by soldiers of the Nazi army in 1944 and is now in a private German collection ".